Toyota to ship U.S.-made vehicles to Middle East, Latam

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday it would begin shipping about 16,000 U.S.-made sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks annually to the Middle East and South America from December amid slumping demand in the United States.

The world's biggest automaker will export about 15,000 Sequoia SUVs to the Middle East and about 150 units of the Sequoia and 1,000 Tundra pickup trucks to South America, it said in a statement.

Toyota had suspended production of large SUVs and pickup trucks for three months since August to respond to a sharp downturn in U.S. demand for fuel-guzzling vehicles. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)